Krishnappa Gowtham is an Indian cricketer who plays first-class cricket for Karnataka. He was born on 20 October 1988 in Bangalore, Karnataka. Gowtham is a right-arm off break bowler and bats right-handed.
Krishnappa Gowtham began playing cricket with passion at a very young age and made an entry into the under-15 zonal tournament held in Bangalore and ended up as the tournament’s second-highest wicket taker.
On 16 October 2011, Gowtham made his T20 debut against Chennai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He bowled just an over and went for 12 runs ending up wicketless. Karnataka won the match by 40 runs.
He made his first-class debut on 17 November 2012 in the Ranji Trophy against Uttar Pradesh at Meerut. He picked up the wickets of Suresh Raina and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the second innings.
From there on, it was clean pickings for the Bangalore lad as he went on to get selected for the Ranji Trophy in 2012. In the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy, Gowtham showed his brilliance by picking up two consecutive five-wicket hauls against Delhi and Assam and helped his team to victory in both games. This tournament included his stunning 18 wickets from just three matches which led to his selection for India A.
Due to illness, he took leave from the Duleep Trophy in 2017, but after a few days started playing for the Karnataka Premier League. For this reason, BCCI replaced him by Karan Sharma in India A squad against New Zealand in Mumbai. Gowtham made his List A debut on 25 February 2017 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy playing against Jharkhand. He impressed by picking up 4 wickets and helping Karnataka to a 5-run win.
In 2018, Gowtham made headlines when he was bought for a whopping 6.2 crores by the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL auctions and everyone around thought Rajasthan Royals had made a grave error in judgement. However, it was due to Gowtham’s finishing prowess that RR could finish out close matches, which eventually helped them qualify for the IPL 2018 Playoffs. However, some inconstant performances in the 2019 season meant that the franchise let him go. Before the 2020 season auction, he was traded by Kings XI Punjab.
Gowtham is part of a threadbare KXIP spin attack that features Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and young Indian leggie Ravi Bishnoi, and he is all set to feature in all games for the team in IPL 2020. Opposition batsmen will look to take him on, giving him an excellent chance of picking up wickets.
Another criticism that can be levelled at the KXIP team is their weak middle order, and Gowtham might find himself in the middle far more often that his team would like him to. The 31-year-old might even be used as a pinch-hitter, and he has an outside chance of contesting for the MVP award.
Gowtham has met and worked closely with the Indian spinner Erapalli Prasanna during a camp conducted by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). He was the second highest wicket-taker in the under-15 zonal tournament. The spinner has always been passionate about the sport and has put in some amazing performances for Karnataka over the years.
